A new state of learning and development (L&D) has emerged with new learner expectations, rapidly evolving skills and jobs, and ever-expanding resources and content. As organizations focus on how they can optimize talent processes to build critical competencies for their workforce, a transformation is needed.

Here are five key considerations as you embark on the learning journey.

1. Compelling experience

The way we learn and consume information has significantly changed over the years, and it’s easier than ever to access the information we seek. For example, smart digital assistants offer suggestions even before we ask for them. We expect to see relevant recommendations on Netflix based on our viewing history. Spotify has a playlist updated weekly with recommendations based on our listening history.

We expect similar experiences at work, including guidance on how we can best grow our careers within our current company. However, some organizations have not evolved their employee experience initiatives at the same pace, particularly in learning interactions. Workers want technology to help them drive their careers and may look for work elsewhere if their employer cannot provide the necessary tools. To offer the support and guidance employees expect, your L&D leaders need technology that delivers a consistent, tailored, and easy experience for their people to find, locate, and consume content and resources. As individuals develop their skills and grow their careers, their learning experience should be a natural part of their day at work. For example, as your workers review their career goals, relevant recommended training should be offered to help them close skill gaps and achieve career aspirations.

Some of your workers find it better to learn by doing, so it’s also important to provide them opportunities where they can discover different gigs with teams across the organization to learn new skills. A unified and personalized experience that connects learning in the flow of work increases engagement and improves productivity.

2. Personalized recommendations

Everyone’s learning journey is different. The capabilities a marketing specialist wants to develop differ from those of a supply chain manager. You can support your workforce’s efforts by investing in AI-driven technology that provides recommendations based on employee criteria, including job role, work assignments, or career goals. This approach improves engagement, productivity, and retention while also developing your people with the necessary skills to progress into their next role. It’s also important to remember that these recommendations need to evolve as an employee moves within the organization, whether they are getting promoted, taking on a gig role, or developing new interests.

3. Skills focus

Skills are at the core of every talent process in your organization as they fuel the company’s health, growth, and agility. Your HR leaders also recognize the need to push the workforce towards in-demand skills, especially as the job market changes. To effectively upskill the workforce at the increasing pace of evolving jobs, they need to be able to answer:

  • How do we know what skills we need now? For the future?
  • Where do we have skills gaps?
  • How can we ensure an always current view of skills and capabilities?

By completely understanding the skills in your organization, you can understand how to assign work. An assessment uncover any gaps, providing an opportunity to deliver relevant learning that benefits your employees and the company.

4. One home for all learning

The importance of having a central place for all learning cannot be overlooked. Josh Bersin has found that the average company has around 22 different learning and development tools and platforms. A disorganized array of course catalogs can be overwhelming and lead to employee burnout.  With a single location for internal and external learning, such as courses from LinkedIn Learning and Skillsoft, your employees can find and consume a breadth of courses in one place. In addition, tagging content with associated skills makes it easier for your people to find the opportunities most relevant to them. Housing and managing internal, external, formal, and informal content in one space helps you track progress and address critical issues across the board versus multiple disparate solutions.

5. User-generated content

Keeping employees connected and fostering knowledge sharing is important, whether they work remotely, hybrid, or fully in the office. A recent report by Deloitte found that about 61 percent of organizations believe that it is imperative for learning and development teams to redefine how they promote a knowledge-sharing ecosystem. To foster a mentoring and developmental culture, you can empower your subject matter experts to record their own content and share it with their peers through discussion forums or learning communities. Self-created learning resources encourage a more bite-sized approach by covering a single topic in-depth or addressing a more complex need. Each of these tactics can help you adapt to the new state of learning. By providing personalized experiences and tailored resources, you create lifelong learners that contribute to the success of your business.

Discover Oracle Learning

Are you looking to evolve your organization’s learning capabilities? Discover how Oracle Learning and Talent solutions can help and get a demo today.

Enjoyed reading this blog? Subscribe to our newsletter, HR matters, to keep in touch.